This isn’t pretty. Financial markets all over the country, battered yesterday on a U.S. holiday, got another chance to weigh in on President Bush’s economic stimulus plan overnight. And, again, all the markets tanked bigtime.

3:39 p.m. – The day that dawned looking like the beginning of the end, now looks like the end of the beginning. The Dow closed off about 128 points. The sun is just coming up in Japan, and now the big players will watch the Tokyo Stock Exchange all night. How does anyone sleep in that business?

2:58 p.m. – Democrats announce they intend to move quickly on an economic stimulus plan. They say they’re confident they can work with President Bush. It only took 7 years and a global stock market meltdown to reach this point. Robert Samuelson of Newsweek discussed this a couple of days ago. Dow off 128.

11:20 a.m. – A discouraging word — or so it seems to me — on the very fine Twin Cities blog, Behind the Mortgage where Alex Stenback says about the fed cut: “There is a credible view that a cut like this may add to inflationary pressures, thereby forcing mortgage rates upward.”

11:12 a.m. – An important post by The Atlantic’s James Fallows on his blog. He’s living in China now and just returned to the U.S. “I know that America is on the verge of disastrous recession and that China is dynamic power of tomorrow, etc etc. But, my lord, life can be good here,” he writes..

9:45 a.m. – Change in plans for MPR’s Midmorning. They shift to an analysis of the economic situation today. Chris Farrell and the Fed’s Art Rolnick weigh in. Rolnick says the probability of recession has increased, but he doesn’t think there’ll be one. “It doesn’t mean the economy is broke,” he said. Audio here.

9:22 a.m. President Bush has signaled that he might go higher on his economic stimulus plan. The Dow is down 231 points; not great, but it puts today in the category of “just another January 2008 day on Wall St.” How do you like us now, Asia? The Toronto Stock Exchange is up at this hour. At least Canada still loves us.

8:30 a.m. – New York Stock Exchange opens. First number on the screen: Down 233. Ugh. Two minutes later: Down 450.

8:20 a.m. – A cheer goes up on Wall Street. A couple of New York Giants come out to ring the opening bell. As a Patriots fan, I hope this is somehow indicative of their ability to sway the course of events.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts where he was VP of programming for Berkshire Broadcasting Co. He was an editor at the RKO Radio Network in New York, and WHDH Radio in Boston. He is the founder of the MPR News’ website. He is a private pilot and flies an airplane he built.

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So sorry for my children whose retirement accounts depend on the market in part at least. I never had any $$ to invest, now it doesn’t seem so bad. Both my kids bought a home – big house in Mpls., small apartment in Brooklyn. At least they can live in those investments…as long as jobs hold.

bsimon

Ride it out.

My annual retirement portfolio rebalancing is coming up, which can be difficult to wait for with the significant daily market fluctions we’re seeing. The instinct is to go in there & move it all to bonds or blue chips, or even just cash out. But, the plan is to override the emotions and rebalance according to our target allocations, so that is what I’m going to do. We (wife and I) are overweighted in foreign markets & we’re going to keep it that way. Even with yesterday’s big drops, our foreign stuff did very well over the last year. We’ll rebalance, taking foreign profits & reinvesting in US funds to return to our target allocation. This should be a good year to buy, particularly in the US, as the markets are low.